Stinson delivers in OT as Cyclones upset Kansas

Published: Sunday, February 20, 2005

ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAWRENCE, Kan.  Curtis Stinson scored all seven of Iowa State's points in overtime, including the game-winner in the lane with 5.1 seconds left, to lead the Cyclones to a 63-61 upset of No. 2 Kansas on Saturday, their seventh straight Big 12 victory after opening the conference season 0-5.

Kansas' Keith Langford tied it 56-all with a 4-footer over Jared Homan with 6 seconds left in regulation as the Jayhawks erased a nine-point deficit over the final 2 minutes.

Stinson, who had 29 points, hit the short jumper for the winning basket over Langford right after he had missed two free throws at the other end. Langford missed a desperation 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

The Cyclones (15-8, 7-5) have beaten four ranked teams in the streak and have won three road games. Before the streak, the Cyclones had not won a conference road game in almost 4 years.

Iowa State used its aggressive zone defense to hold Kansas (20-3, 10-2) to its lowest point total of the year and hand the Jayhawks their first conference loss at home in 32 games.

The Jayhawks, who lost by one point in double overtime on Monday night at Texas Tech, shot only 35 percent against Iowa State. J. R. Giddens was 3-for-16 from the field, including 1-for-11 beyond the 3-point arc.

Kansas, which had won 20 straight overall on its home court, took a 59-56 lead in overtime before Stinson, with two free throws and a short jumper, made it 60-59.

Then Wayne Simien's two free throws made it 61-60 before Stinson made one of two from the line and tied it 61-all.

Stinson, the sophomore guard who leads the Cyclones in scoring, did not enter the game until 15:35 remained in the first half.

Simien led the Jayhawks with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Homan, who fouled out in overtime, had 14 points for Iowa State.

Rahshon Clark's basket with 3:27 left in regulation gave the Cyclones their biggest lead, 53-44. Then at the 1:37 mark, Michael Lee hit a 12-footer and ignited an 8-1 run.

Iowa State was the last Big 12 team to win in Allen Fieldhouse, a 79-77 victory on Feb. 5, 2001.

 No. 21 Oklahoma 69

Kansas St. 68

MANHATTAN, Kan.  Drew Lavender was so jacked up after his improbable game-winning shot, he sprinted right past the visiting locker room at Bramlage Coliseum.

"Everybody was screaming and yelling,'' Lavender said with a laugh, "and I just ran right by the door here. I was halfway up the hall before somebody grabbed me.''

It took a hurried video review at the scorer's table to give the Sooners (19-6, 8-4 Big 12) credit for the field goal that broke their three-game road losing streak.

The question was only whether Lavender got his desperation flip from the baseline off in time  not whether Kevin Bookout or Taj Gray touched it as it bounced twice after time expired.

Lavender did  with three-tenths of a second left. And the replay showed no extra touches.

"If it was touched, they'd have waved it off right away,'' Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said. "I was glad to see Kevin didn't tip it. No controversy.''

Not at that end of the court, anyway. But Kansas State coach Jim Wooldridge, whose team lost its sixth straight, had an issue with the way the Sooners' winning possession started after the Wildcats' Clent Stewart stole an inbounds pass and then hit a free throw with 4.5 seconds to go for a 68-67 lead.

"I thought there was an inbound violation to begin the play,'' said Wooldridge, who did not let his players speak to the media after the game. "We got up on the guy throwing the ball in, he got caught and stepped across the line and it wasn't called.

"I know they saw it, but apparently they didn't want to call it.''

It wouldn't have mattered anyway, because no-calls on violations are not reviewable.

Oklahoma held for the last shot, calling a timeout after a non-shooting foul on the Wildcats with 6.6 seconds left, but David Godbold threw the ball away into the backcourt. Stewart got the steal, was fouled by Godbold and made one free throw.

But the 5-foot-7 Lavender, who did not start for the second straight game, took the inbounds pass and tore down the court for the game-winner.

Martin had 22 points for the Wildcats, while Lance Harris added 13 and Jeremiah Massey and Fred Peete each had 12.

Kansas State led 41-28 at halftime and made it 44-28 on Martin's three-point play 11 seconds into the second half. But the Sooners responded with a 10-0 run, capped by Johnnie Gilbert's basket, to get within 44-38 with 17:11 to go.

Martin and Massey each hit two baskets in Kansas State's answering 8-2 run, but Massey had to sit down with his fourth personal with just over 15 minutes remaining.

Both were out only briefly, but the Sooners regained the momentum and outscored the Wildcats 20-4 over the next 8 minutes.

Godbold's 3-pointer with 9:20 left gave Oklahoma its first lead, 55-54. Martin answered with a basket one minute later to put Kansas State up 56-55, but Lavender responded with a basket and a 3-pointer to give Oklahoma a 60-56 lead with 61/2 minutes to go.

"Drew Lavender played like he's capable of playing,'' Sampson said. "Drew understands why we get upset with him at times, because we feel like he's not achieving at the highest level. You saw today how he's capable of playing.''

 Texas A&M 92, Colorado 77

BOULDER, Colo.  For an afternoon, Antoine Wright set aside a friendship to win a basketball game.

Wright matched a career-high with 32 points and in the process outplayed Colorado's Richard Roby in winning its first Big 12 Conference road game.

"Rich and I have been going at it since eighth grade,'' said Wright, a teammate of Roby's at Lawrence Academy in Groton, Mass., "When we're out there we're not friends.''

"He's always wanted to beat me and he's always wanted to be better than me and I've always found a way to get him, he's not going to like this loss,'' Wright said.

Wright outplayed Roby. He was 9-for-13 shooting and 11-of-11 from the free throw line for Texas A&M (16-7, 5-7). The Aggies also won for the first time in five games in Boulder.

"He (Wright) stepped up when we needed him to do it,'' Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie said. "He put us on his shoulders and played the game the right way.'

Texas A&M rarely missed, shooting 71 percent in the first half, and with Wright and Joseph Jones combining for 28 points, led 51-33 at the break. Wright had 11 points with three 3-pointers in an 18-0 run that put the Aggies ahead 35-13 with seven minutes left in the half.

Colorado tried several defenses to slow Texas A&M down, but it was point guard's Marcus Hall's aggressive play and eight points in a three-minute stretch that closed the gap to 38-25. But Jones answered with six points over the final 2:31 that gave the Aggies an 18-point edge.

Texas A&M extended its lead to 65-42 with a 14-2 run, including eight points from Wright, early in the second half. The lead was 82-60 when Roby, who was 1-for-4 shooting in the first half, hit a 3-pointer and scored 10 straight points for Colorado to make it 82-70 with 4:02 left.

Roby's layup off a steal got the Buffaloes as close as 83-75 with 2:30 remaining. But Texas A&M put the game away when Dominique Kirk buried a 3-pointer and Wright converted a layup off a back door cut on its next two possessions.